The paper presents experimental results on the mixing process in a coaxial jet mixer in two mixing regimes. In the first mixing regime, a recirculation zone develops just behind a nozzle near mixer walls, while in the second regime a jet is mixed with the co-flow without developing a recirculation zone. In the both regimes, the mixing process is studied at R-ed = 10 000. Behind the nozzle over the range 0.1 < x/D < 9.1, a velocity field in mixer cross-sections is measured by a one-component laser Doppler velocity meter and a scalar field is detected by the laser image fluorescence (LIF) method. A transverse autocorrelation function, integral length scales and probability density functions (PDF) are calculated using instantaneous distributions of a scalar and its fluctuations. It is shown that the scalar field acquires a homogeneous state faster than the velocity one. A quasi-uniform scalar distribution over the mixer cross-section is completed at the distance x/D = 5.1 in the first mixing regime, while this distribution has not been yet attained in the second. Analysis of the turbulent statistical moments and the autocorrelation function reveals how unsteady vortex structures exert a dramatic influence on the mixing. When the recirculation zone has developed, long-period antiphase oscillations exist near the mixer walls. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.